The Cover-Canvas Pt.2
The Best from K. West Part Three
J. K. Tang
SAYONARA, DROPOUT BEAR!!! HELLO TO THE OMNIPOTENT, OMNIPRESENT “JEEN-YUHS” OF ‘YEEZUS’. As depicted in Netflix’s jeen-hus: A Kanye Trilogy, the tragic passing of his mother, Donda West, pivoted his creative vision into spirals of unexpected controversies and untapped passion. Through his immense loss and grief, he found a new Ye, a persona detached from the innocence and naivety of Dropout Bear and wholesome church melodies.
Kanye and Mum. Source: Google
808s & HEARTBREAK (2008)
A melancholic product of his mother’s death and a breakup with his then-fiancée ignites into another genre-breaking spectacular. By its aggressive grey hues, the cover engulfs the fluorescent remnants of the Dropout Bear Trilogy, visible left on its frame. Holding the semantic glue is a deflated heart-shaped balloon that encapsulates West’s emotional struggle with heartache.
This symphonic ensemble of colour and semantics are the talented work of the late Virgil Abloh. Specifically, the white gloves prying the hyperreal ‘heartbreak’ belong to the artistic vision of New York’s Kaws. Beyond the cover both Abloh and Kaws’ designs have gone on to shape the character and style of early 21st century pop-culture.
808s & Heartbreak Source: Google
MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY (2010)
Akin to his collaborative works with Murakami on Graduation, Ye finds the artistic manifestations of his music in contemporary artist, George Condo. With his hunger set on the provocative and outrageous, West and Condo intended the face of the fifth album to be banned and NSFW, breaking the constraints of what is the normative. Over five alternate covers were created to be visual expressions of Ye’s ongoing battle with publicity and creative growth.
The variant covers of MBDTF. Source: Google
Without all the time in the world, let’s delve into the major three.
- “The Phoenix” was the ultimate cover used for the album. To continue West’s provocative ethos, the image depicts himself gripping a beer on a blue couch with a chimera-like woman, taking features of both bestial and angelic creatures. The dichotomous nature of the ‘phoenix-woman’ manifests his allurement of profane imagery in contemporary art forms. Due to the excessive sexual imagery, the cover was banned by music platforms in the pixelated frame we know and love.
- “The Ballerina” continues the norm-defying aesthetic of the album. This image portrays the conventionally petite ballerina raising a glass of wine, perpetuating Epicurean contrast with the ballerina. Reminds me of Nietzsche’s ‘Apollonian and Dionysian’. Moreover, the ballerina’s moustache speaks for West’s critique on society’s beauty standards.
- “The Portrait” is a mirage of Ye’s inner chaos of thoughts. As one of the most widely outspoken musicians, this cover self-actualises his own reputation as a radically-expressive celebrity, known for ongoing scandal and controversy. The fragmented mouths emphasise the distortion of Ye’s words throughout his prevalence in mainstream media.
The ‘royal red’ backdrop of all MBDTF covers symbolises the expense of passion, love, anger and blood that was necessary in the album’s composition.
YEEZUS (2013)
To mark the death of the disc, the Yeezus cover displays a ‘radical-minimalist’ image of a CD and its case. The bright-crimson tape serves both as a metaphorical and literal closure and a focal point on the listening format. Under, once again, the designs of Virgil Abloh, he states that the cover “would be the last time people would see it or use it”.
Yeezus. Source: Google
In the promotional efforts for the album, Abloh’s ‘radical-minimalist’ design acted as a clean-canvas on GQ posters for Ye’s fans to customise their own covers; via the suggestive caption, “please add graffiti”.
Evidently, West’s “cover-canvas” are more than seek-peeks into the album’s aesthetics. Instead, they are visual compliments to his sonic mastery.